


You Brought Me Your Love

by Dizzy_Star_77



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Punk, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff, High School, M/M, Punk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2020-08-11 12:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20153914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dizzy_Star_77/pseuds/Dizzy_Star_77
Summary: Y/n is the top badass punk chick at her school. Gerard is a boy at rock bottom in life and the social ladder. Despite his reclusive tendencies, Y/n takes a liking to him and won't leave him alone until he's truly lived.





	1. Chapter 1

The high school stereotypes aren't as clear cut as the movies make them seem. Most people resent the idea of becoming a 'type' and are part of multiple social circles. You could say that I am one of these people. 

Being the queen "punk chick", I still have to make an effort to socialize lightly with the other groups in order to maintain relevancy within the student body. My routine visits amongst various cliques, ranging from the bottom rung to the top step of the social ladder, made me at least somewhat acquainted with most of the students at Belleville High. So one might be able to fathom my surprise when I met someone who I was quite unfamiliar with. 

"Everyone find a partner. The directions for the project are at the front, so one of you can come grab a copy. Get to work!" Mr. Fallon released us to work and I slumped down into my seat. I only found about two people in that class tolerable, and they always liked to work together, so I would likely get stuck with some awkward kid who was too scared to even look at me, and I would end up doing the heavy lifting in the project.

I scanned the room looking for someone available who wasn't obnoxious as hell. Nobody, wonderful. Wait, who the hell is that guy?" 

In the corner, some boy was standing disheveled. He wasn't new, he couldn't be; the teacher would have told us. I must have seen him before, because he seemed to hold some memory in my brain, though I wasn't sure exactly when or where or why. Well, if I haven't noticed him yet, he must not be too annoying. I stared at him until he noticed me, then nodded to say "come here" and waited.

He seemed sort of confused, but walked over anyway. "Hi..." He said, his eyes a little narrowed. The boy stood a couple feet from the desk I was at.

"Sit down, unless you don't want to be partners." I nodded to the desk next to mine and watched as he slowly sat down. "I won't bite unless you give me a reason honey." I joked.

"Umm, okay." He turned to me, face still rampant with confusion. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're currently the least annoying choice for a partner," I pulled one of the instruction papers off the desk of a student who wasn't paying attention and wrote my name at the top of it. "Don't prove me wrong, okay?"

"Okay." 

"Plus, I've never talked to you before, which is kinda weird for me, so I figured it'd be a good idea to get to know you a little, especially since you were standing all alone in the corner." I put the pen down and looked at him, crossing my legs. "Shame on me for not knowing, but what's your name?"

"Gerard...Way." He smiled a little.

"Gerard Way.... that's a pretty rad name. That's a famous name, right there." I started looking over the directions. 

Gerard set his stuff on the floor and furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Oh like, that's the kind of name a famous person would have. You could get famous with a name like that." I noticed a few people looking at us funny, but I just looked at Gerard for his response.

"Well it's too bad my name'll go to waste then." Gerard smiled a little dejectedly. 

"You never know what can happen Gerard...." I noticed he perked up when I said his name. "People get famous for all sorts of things. Who knows? Maybe you'll be a rock star or something."

He just rolled his eyes and started inspecting the direction sheet. "We have to make a collage on a theme. That sounds simple enough, right?"

"That's what he wants you to think," I corrected. "He makes it vague enough to drive you crazy. I kind of respect it though, it's his way of weeding the lazy idiots from the artists and committed students, you know?"

"That's interesting," Gerard nodded. "I guess it's also a way to get you to do your best work."

"I've never thought of it like that before." I tilted my head to the side in thought. "Hey, you're kinda smart Gerard. I bet you got good grades, huh?"

"Eh, they could be better." He shrugged, face contorting as he put on a mocking tone. " 'If you'd only apply yourself Gerard, you'd be at the top of the class'." 

"You get that too, huh?" I replicated his tone. " 'Miss L/n, perhaps if you spent less time cutting class to get stoned, and more time doing classwork, you would see the high potential you have being realized.' Maybe I don't want to be the best in the class, you know? That doesn't motivate me. Well to be fair, nothing does, but you get it."

"Yeah I get it." Gerard smiled just a bit, turning away from my gaze. That's cute, he's shy. "Not to be rude or anything, but this is the one class I actually excel in, and I'd like to keep it that way, so can we like work a little bit?"

I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "Oh no problem man, I hear you."

"So is there a theme that really calls to you?" He asked. "Anything screaming 'I'm here Y/n! Pick me please!' " Gerard put on a raspy alien voice for this, which made me crack up. I don't think he expected it to be such a hit; he sat in his seat smiling in almost disbelief at how hard I was laughing. 

When I finally came down, I straightened out my leather jacket and looked at Gerard. "I don't even know why that was funny, but Jesus Christ man you fuckin' slayed me." I took a deep breath and pretended to meditate for a moment before I continued our conversation. "But no, there's no theme for me. What if we just spend most of the time collecting anything we found interestng that can go on a posterboard, then at the end we can just connect some dots-"

"Make it sound deep and pseudo intellectual and Fallon will love it." Gerard interrupted. "And boom, we have an A."

"Nice plan Gerard!" I touched his shoulder a little. You would think he was allergic to human touch with the way his face flared all red. "I'm on board if you are." I smiled sweetly at him and took the paper from his hands. 

"I-I'm on board Y-Y/n," he stuttered out, flustered into the seventh dimension. "So um..."

"Let's ditch next hour." I said, ignoring his awkward mumbling. 

"What?" He said, taken aback. "I don't want to get in trouble."

"Oh whatever, it's just sixth period anyway." I rolled my eyes and started putting my stuff in my bag. "What's your class anyway?"

"English in Rodney's room." He answered indignantly.

"Rodney's blind as a bat and deafer than a privileged politician. He won't notice if you're gone." I stood up, noticing the bell was going to ring soon. "So are you in, or are you in?"

"I'm in." He sighed reluctantly.


	2. Rule Breakin' Baby

"You're not living unless you're breaking the rules. Nobody ever got anything out of being docile and complacent. Anything."

"How rebellious we are, skipping class," Gerard rolled his eyes. "A couple of regular delinquents."

"Jesus, can you have a better attitude please?" Unlocked my car and opened the driver door. "You're being such a killjoy." Climbing inside, I opened the passenger door and swung it open. 

"For your information, I've gotten plenty from complacency." Gerard sniped, getting inside. 

"Yeah? And what's that?" I turned the key in the ignition. "Seasonal depression?" Gerard just huffed and look out the passenger window. "You're gonna have fun, if it's the last thing I do."

Gerard seemed very unenthusiastic about skipping, which I found very odd. It's not like he enjoyed school, he was just as exhausted of it as I was. I played the radio at full volume and sang as loud as I could. Soon, another voice joined me, albeit faint. I glanced over to see Gerard gently mouthing the words as we drove along. 

I stopped the car at a common hangout for me. A small wooded patch in a secluded part of town, fit with wildlife and shady occult graffiti. "This is it." I said, hopping out. "My favorite spot in the world."

Gerard tentatively stepped out and surveyed the area. "Nice, I think."

"You'll like it." I started walking in. "C'mon."

I led him down a path to the center of the forest. We were fairly silent through this, only the crunching of leaves and chirping of birds were the soundtrack to our outing. The forest center was a four-pronged fork in the road, contested by about twenty square feet of dirt path. Gerard stumbled back when I stopped him with my arm. 

"Which way do you want to go?" I asked, turning to him and grinning. "Choose wisely sugarplum."

"Why?" His face twisted in concern. "Is one one way gonna get us murdered or something?"

"No, just pick one!" I said, giving him a gentle push. 

"Um, okay...." Gerard examined each path, but seemed disappointed that each one looked almost identical. "That one I guess." He pointed to a far left path.

"Okay, to the left it is!" I walked straight past him down the left path, shoving m hands in my pockets. We walked in silence once more to a little creek, where I twirled back to Gerard and smiled. "Looks like you chose well, friend."

"Looks like it," he agreed. "Don't you know where all the paths lead, though?" He tilted his head and stepped towards the rushing water.

"Yeah, but I thought it would be cool to let you pick." I shrugged, sitting on a large, flat rock. "To like, see where you would take us, you know?" I started unlacing my boots, setting them next to the rock. 

"Oh I see," He said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna get in the water a little bit," I said, pulling off my socks. "You're more than welcome to join me if you'd like."

"Um..." Gerard looked at the water rushing by, biting his lip. "Sure, why not."

"That's the spirit!" I stood up and carefully walked to the edge of the creek, trying not to destroy the pads of my feet as I went. One big step and I was ankle-deep in the icy, babbling stream. I breathed deep and turned around to see Gerard rolling up his pant legs. "Ready?" I said with a teasing smile.

"As I'll ever be." He took a small step and hissed, sucking in a breath. "Fuck, it's cold."

"It is water." I held out my hands. "Here, let me help you, it gets kinda slippery 'cause of the algae." Gerard looked at me funny, but took my hands anyway so I could lead him farther in. "That's it, you got it man." Soon, we were both standing in the water, watching little fish swim past our feet.

"They're so small." Gerard marveled, moving his feet, careful not to step on a fish. "I've never seen fish this tiny." 

"Yeah, they're little guys," I agreed. "They get bigger, but not by much."

We waded around for a few minutes, making small talk about family and school and things. I was a little surprised to find out that Gerard's only friend was his younger brother Mikey, who was two years behind us. How does this guy not have any other friends? Poor kid. There was no way I was going to let that one slide, thus created an idea: "Turn Gerard's Damn Life Upside Down But In A Good Way, haha, 'Way.' Get it?" That was the elongated name, of course. The shortened name would be thought of later, because there was a cry, a flailing of limbs, and a loud splash that demanded my attention at the moment. 

There he was; Gerard sat like a fallen angel in the water. The delicate cuffs he had made in his pants to keep the water away had been made a joke of, soaked in crisp creek water. Shock and embarrassment looked up at me through greasy disheveled hair; this angel did not know why he had been thrown so violently from the heavens. 

Laughter rose from my chest before I could stop it. I didn't want to laugh and make him feel bad, so I quickly canned it and offered to help him up. It took a few times of him falling on his knees (thus getting the front of himself wet as well) before he was completely up. 

"You're not hurt, are you?" I looked over his hands for scratches. 

Gerard hastily brushed his hair out of his face and shook his head. A pink tint was rushing over his face, but I decided not to tease him about it. "No, I'm fine, just..." he looked down at his legs. "Wet."

"That's what she said!" I yelled, laughing and running to my shoes. "You better hurry up before you get even more soaked." I made suggestive wiggly eyebrows at him and grinned.

"Stop it."

"Oh, Gerard! Ah, uh..ah ah!" I made fake moaning noises after him while he pulled on his shoes. "Gerard, harder baby, uhhnnn.."

"Stop it Y/n."

"Fine, you spoilsport." I smirked and started walking back down the path. "Coming or not?" I called back at him.

"I'm coming!" He yelled, running up next to me.

"I'm coming!" I made mocked in another moan, cracking myself up. 

"Oh my God, Y/n."


	3. New Look

The walk back to Y/n's car let me dry off a bit. I at least wasn't sopping and leaving wet footprints everywhere. Y/n pulled a towel out of the backseat and threw it at me. "Sit on this so you don't get my seats wet, yeah?"

I nodded and folded up the towel, placing it in the passenger's seat. "Why do you keep towels in your car?"

"Shit happens." She said, putting on her sunglasses. "You're not the first person to fall into that creek, either." That's comforting...I guess. She pulled into traffic rather harshly, making the both of us jerk back into the seats. "You want to go to my house or your house?" She said, brushing her hair back. 

"Umm, my house I guess." I shrugged. "My clothes are there."

"True." She nodded. 

In case anyone hadn't noticed, it was a weird day. The coolest, most popular girl in school not only picked me to be her partner, but took me to some weird forest alone. I hadn't even known her for a day and she was already coming to my house. The fact that I was sitting, clothes soaked in her car wasn't very typical either.

What is typical? Typical for Gerard is being friendless, listening to music and drawing every second of the day. Typical for Y/n is never being without means of socializing, partying and going out whenever she feels like it. Gerard sits alone outside at lunch, Y/n has a posse of comrades to mess around with, parading the campus. I would be lying if I said I never looked at her gang with envy. 

I directed Y/n to my house. She pulled in rather harshly and sprinted up to my door. "What are you doing?" I asked, speeding my pace to get to the door faster.

"Coming inside?" She laughed as if I should have known that. "Or am I not allowed in?" 

This girl was really about to just waltz on into my home, no questions asked. Strangely, I couldn't bring myself to stop her and handed her my key. She smiled at me and unlocked the door, entering the doorway swiftly. 

Y/n turned back to me expectantly. "Yes?" I asked. 

"Where's your room?" She smild sweetly. "Can I see it?"

"Uh....sure." I walked toward the basement stairs, motioning her to follow. "Its this way."

I was a little embarrassed to have her in my room that day. It was very messy; clothes and paper everywhere, not to mention my Star Wars bedsheets were not exactly the coolest things on the planet. "Sorry, its really messy."

"No bother my dude." She smiled a little and stepped carefully over items on the floor, reaching my closet door. "Your clothes in here?" She asked, inspecting the frame.

"Yeah?" 

"Cool c'mere." She motioned me over and opened the door slowly in case there were items that could fall on her. I saw her body relax when she remained unscathed, but her face became confused. "Why do you never wear any of this stuff Gerard?" She had found my 'other' clothes. I called them that because they were other. I never wore them; I had no confidence to. Y/n shoved the hung clothes to the side and reached deep into the closet. "You have a leather jacket?" She gasped and held the garment at arms length from herself. 

"Yeah, I just never wear it." I shrugged. "Not really my style."

"Well, you'd be better making it your style!" Y/n laid it on the bed and went back to the closet. "Oh this shirt is cool." She took a striped shirt from its hanger and threw it at me. "Put it on."

I (barely) caught the shirt and held it up to look at. There was no memory of where this shirt even came from, but something about Y/n's confidence in it compelled me. Luckily I had completely dried off by then, making the process of dressing and re-dressing easier. However, I paused, feeling self-conscious having Y/n in the room with me. "Don't worry...I won't look." She put her hands up and turned around, giving me time to dress on the outfit she had given me. 

"Uh...I'm done now." Y/n turned around and grinned. 

"Well, don't you look handsome." She popped her hip out and grabbed my hand, leading me to a mirror. "Look at that, we both look hot." Well you definitely look pretty ho- Gerard! Stop it, that's weird! I stayed silent, just nodding in agreement instead. "Aww," Y/n turned to me, smiling. "You think I'm hot? That's nice Gerard." 

Fuck she trapped me. "Uhh....yes?" I winced. She laughed and fixed my hair for me. 

"I'm just messin' with ya, don't worry." 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I walked out the door on my way to school, stopping in my tracks when a familiar car was parked out front. Y/n rolled down the window and grinned at me. Why she was wearing sunglasses when it was barely light out, I'll never know, but that's not super relevant anyway. "Well...don't just stand there!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" I spoke through the open window.

"Does it matter?" She raised her eyebrows. "Just get in." She reached over and pulled the handle, openng the door just enough for me to catch it and slide into the car. I rolled my eyes and complied, quickly clicking the buckle into place.

We were silent for a moment, so I decided to take initiative and open my mouth to speak. "So, what are you doi-"

"Want some coffee?" Y/n interrupted. "I'll pay."

"Sure, I guess."

"Cool. Nice clothes by the way." She winked at me. 

"Yeah, I uh, really liked the jacket after all." I was wearing a similar outfit to what Y/n had picked for me yesterday. 

"I knew you would." She giggled in satisfaction.

Before I knew it, we had pulled up to the school, coffee in hand. We were over a half hour early, something I wasn't used to because I generally walked to school. In her car we sipped lattes and talked about random things, the kinds of excited delirious talk that addicts have when they get their hit. 

Out of the blue, Y/n shushed me. She was leaning at the rearview mirror, sunglasses still mounted firmly on her nose. "Ahh, fuck." She muttered, putting her coffee in the cupholder. 

"What's up?" I asked, craning my neck to get her view. 

"Its fucking Brendon." She tapped on the steering wheel, then stopped a moment to turn to me and grin. 

"Who's Brendon?" I asked.

"Pompous asshole." She said shortly. "The end of sophomore year he decided he didn't like me, and as a consequence, all of his friends hate me and my friends. It's pretty great really. They're all pussies anyway."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No way Jose, I ain't about to make you some sort of weak target. Just don't say anything and don't look 'em in the eye. Understand?"

"Yeah I got it."

'Brendon' strolled up to Y/n's window, wearing a similar pair of dark sunglasses. He however, removed them and hung them in his pocket. Y/n rolled her window down and looked bored with him. "Morning Y/n." He smirked.

"What's going on Bren'?" I could see her eyes roll from the side view of her glasses. 

"Just wondering if you know that its illegal to have sex in your car on school property." He stared at me, trying to catch my eye. 

"Sorry, guess you'll just have to find your porn somewhere else then, huh?" She feigned sympathy, pouting her lips.

"Well, we all know that's here you'll end up in a year, just trying to get a sneak peek of Pornhub's barely legal page." He smiled smugly at Y/n; it looked like he was trying to get a glance down her shirt. God, he has such a punchable face. 

"Brendon?" She smiled, flashing a little innocence in her tone. 

"Yes?" He raised his eyebrows, as if they had these interactions often. 

"Why don't you keep your giant, crooked-ass bird beak out of my business, before I perform emergency readjustment on it with my bare hands?"

"Won't be the only part of me you've touched with your bare hands will it?" Brendon gasped, and continued. "Oh wait, you probably don't want your new fuck to know what a whore you are."

Y/n slowly snaked her hand down to grip at her coffee, taking the lid off. "Eat shit Brendon." She sneered, tossing the hot beverage on him. 

Brendon yelled, looking down at his stained shirt. "You bitch!" 

"That's my name baby." She smiled. "Alright, lets get outta here." She put the car in reverse and sped to the opposite parking lot, laughing to herself.


	4. C'mon Angel, Don't You Cry

"Brendon hates me, which means his friends hate me, which means they also hate anyone associated with me." Y/n told me as we walked into the school. "That now includes you. You're welcome to run now, I won't be offended."

"I think I'll stick around." I said. "I guess this is my opportunity to live a little, right?"

"Sure." She laughed. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

"I won't."

Lunchtime rolled around, as it does everyday, and just like every day, I was left to eat by myself next to a wall. I had only taken one bite of my sandwich when someone kicked me. "Hey loser." Y/n was standing over me, smirking. "Whatcha doin' out here?"

"Eating." I said.

"All by yourself? That's sad." 

"Wow, thanks Y/n," I rolled my eyes. "Real nice of you to say."

"Come sit with me and my friends." She said, nudging me with her shoe. "You'll like them, I promise."

"Alright, whatever." She started walking before I had even gotten up, so I had to run to catch up with her. We walked all the way to the back of the cafeteria where a rowdy group of teenagers were hollering and throwing shit at each other. Y/n clapped her hands and cleared her throat silencing the table. 

"Attention to the House of Wolves! This is my new friend, Gerard." She gave them a look and they gave me a half-hearted 'Hi Gerard.' Y/n rolled her eyes and pulled me down next to her on a bench. "I want you all to be extra nice to him, and hopefully he'll stick around for a while. Got it?" Another mumbled reply. "Kay, cool."

"Hey Y/n, um..what do you guys do-" I was cut off when a boy our age tapped me on the shoulder. He had a very strange hairstyle, greasy black hair that was combed to plaster on the side of his face, but the sides were shaved very close and had a yellow bleached colour. He looked down at me through black sunglasses, but took them off to speak to me.

"Gerard, huh? I'm Frank." He grinned held out his hand to shake.

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you." I cringed at my utter inability to be any sort of smooth around Y/n's friends. 

"Hi Frankie!" Y/n grabbed his hand and pulled him down onto her other side. "Gerard, I was really hoping you and Frank would meet. I think you guys would have fun together." Frank wrapped his arms around Y/n's waist and gently kissed her neck while she was speaking. "Feel free to talk to anyone, and if they give you any trouble just let me know, yah?" Frank had dragged his kisses up to her jaw and was sucking very hard. Are they dating? Y/n never mentioned having a boyfriend before. Of course, I have only known her for like, one day.

"Yeah."

"Cool." She turned to Frank, who immediately pounced on her and shoved his tongue down her throat. I scooted away as they made out only a couple feet from me and awkwardly checked the time.

"Hey man, sorry about them." Some boy with a mess of curly hair gave me a sympathetic look. "Frank will pretty much hump anything with a pulse, and I'm pretty sure Y/n just doesn't care anymore. Just don't pay attention to them."

"You get used to it eventually." The girl next to him said sadly, looking quickly at the sight of Frank and Y/n sucking face just across the table. She looked dissapointed somehow. "See you guys later." She grabbed her stuff quickly and nearly ran out of the cafeteria. 

"I'm Ray." He smiled brightly at me. "So how'd you get tangled up with our lovely Y/n?"

"We got partnered for a project and I don't know, I guess she liked me for some reason." I shrugged my shoulders and took another bite of my sandwich.

"Hmm." He stewed for a moment. "I hope you like it here, Gerard."

When the bell rang, I saw that Y/n had to physically push Frank off of her so she could get up. "You're gonna see me after school, Frank. We can talk then, okay?"

"Yeah, great load of 'talking' they'll be doing!" Someone from the table shouted, drawing laughter from everyone else. Frank just pouted and walked off, giving Y/n a little kiss on the cheek.

Y/n walked right up beside me like nothing had happened. "Is that your boyfriend?" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet." She said matter of factly. 

"Okay then." She wasn't sure? What does that mean?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Y/N'S POV

I told Gerard to meet me outside the school at the end of the day so he could hang out with all of us. I had to stay a few minutes after the bell to go pick up homework, but was walking down the halls fairly quickly after that. I had my friends Kitty and Ronnie with me, walking slowly down the empty halls and messing around in the stairwell. Ronnie was about to pull down the anti-smoking poster hanging above the stairs when Frank came sprinting up the steps. 

"Y/n!" He yelled, out of breath.

"What?" I laughed, turning toward him. My laughter faded when I saw the look on his face. "Frankie, what is it?"

Frank took a deep breath before continuing. "I saw your new friend walking outside, and I just saw Brendon and his friends running after him. We need to go, like now."

Fuck, this is bad. "Fuck, this is bad." I groaned, grabbing my bag. "Ronnie, Kitty, we gotta go."

"I was just having fun!" Ronnie laughed, dashing down the stairs. 

"Don't forget your bag, idiot!" Kitty called after him, laughing and dropping his backpack off the edge for Ronnie to catch. All four of us ran outside to the front entrance, letting Frank lead us to where they might be. We found them out by the track shed, attempting to beat the living hell out of Gerard. There was only three of them, so I wouldn't be that outnumbered. There was a pile of plastic piping from a construction company who was redoing the irrigation that Frank pointed out to me, but I had a different plan, and took off running down the hill at full speed.

Brendon had his back to me, pointing something at Gerard, presumably a baseball bat. Once only a few feet away from him, I lunged, grabbing him around the middle and tackling him to the ground. The initial ground impact was rough, but I started swinging right at his face as soon as I caught my breath. "Think it's cool to just beat up on people for no reason? Huh?" I screamed, not relenting for a second as I rained blows down on his mug. "Think it's cool? Tell me, you little bitch!" 

Brendon was able to catch his breath at some point during all of this, and rolled on top of me with a yell. "Oh I'm the bitch?" He grinned, holding my hands down as I struggled against him. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, no no no no no no no! 

"Gerard, run!" I cried. I knew he couldn't. Brendon's cronies were still beating him around, pushing him down when he tried to stumble onto his feet. 

"What's wrong Y/n?" Bren asked, staring into my eyes. There was blood dripping down his face. "What, your new toy is too weak to come and save you? It's a shame, isn't it?" 

"Fuck you, Brendon." I spat on his face. He was wiping it off when we heard screeching coming down the hill. I couldn't figure out who it was, because Brendon growled angrily and started wailing down on me.

There was a series of loud howls then from the corner of my vision, I saw Frank, Ronnie and Kitty holding pipes and sprinting after Brendon's friends. Before I knew it, there were arms wrapping under Brendon's and yanking him back. I scrambled up and kicked him in the stomach, making him finally cease his fighting. "Fuck off Brendon. If I see you anywhere near Gerard again, I will call everyone I know to personally break your legs. Do you understand me?"

"Fine." He spat. I groaned and pulled him up, handing him my pack of tissues from my pocket and sending him on his way. "Fucking bitch." He grumbled as he walked away, stumbling away with his friends off to their car. 

"God dammit! Wait, are you okay?" I sat down at Gerard's side to examine the damage. He was moaning in pain, coughing and sniveling. "Oh baby, let's sit you up, yeah? Frank, come help me." We carefully leaned him up against the shed, trying not to bump him too much. "Jesus, you've only known me for two days and you're already getting a fucking beatdown. Damn." I slowly pulled his shirt up, and he grabbed my hands, pulling it back down. "I'm only checking for bruises Honey." I said, catching eye contact. He released my hands and I lifted up the garment just enough to see. Bruising around his bones, and a few on his back. Nothing too horrible, thank God. 

"I'm not," Gerard paused to take a breath. "Gonna die, am I?"

"No," I smiled. "You won't die. Just got banged up pretty good." Gerard nodded, clenched teeth and scrunched eyes. He was really hurting, and his appearance justified it. Blood was all over his face, dripping down to his shirt, which was also stained from grass and dirt. The poor thing was bruised from head to toe, welts getting progressively larger as you moved down his body. "Frankie, go get Ronnie and Kitty and get my car." I tossed him the keys.

"Gotcha." Frank caught them and took off running. 

"Y/n..." Gerard rasped.

"Yeah?" I answered, brushing his hair back. "Whatcha need honey?"

"I..it.." Gerard never finished his sentence. A little silent sob choked out of him, and then the tears started coming down like a broken faucet.

"Oh, come 'ere sweetheart." I moved my legs so that he was sitting in between them and cradled his body as best I could. He was taller than I, but he was slumped enough that he could lean into me and cry. "I'm so sorry this happened to you Gerard. We'll get you cleaned up and we can take you home, okay?"

"No." He mumbled into my shoulder.

"What do you mean?" I asked, leaning back to see him. 

"I don't want to go home. My mom'll freak if she sees all these bruises." He wiped some tears from his face, giving me a sad look. "I uh...don't need her to know that I got the shit beat outta me today. It would probably end with you, Brendon, and everyone associated expelled and or in juvie."

"Oh, I see." I nodded slowly. "You wanna stay at my place tonight? I have a trundle bed if you'd like that." 

"Yes please." He said quietly, resting his head on my shoulder. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
GERARD'S POV

I was easily in some of the worst pain of my life. My ribs hurt like hell, I could barely walk, and now I had a headache searing into my skull. Y/n helped me hobble over to her car, where she cleaned me up with her oddly suspicious amount of first-aid supplies from her trunk. Frank and her other friends were hanging around the car, smoking and watching for more of Brendon's crew just in case. 

"Alright, this is gonna sting, so brace yourself." Y/n pulled out an antiseptic wipe and held my jaw to keep me still. 

My cut was significantly larger then I had thought, because as soon as Y/n started cleaning it, I felt the sensation of a thousand needles spreading around the left side of my face. "Fuck!" I whispered, closing my eyes and trying not to squirm

"I know, Honey, I know." Y/n said sympathetically, brushing my hair back. "I know how much it hurts." She was mothering me; an experience I hadn't had in quite a while. As much as I did love my mom, we had become distant over the past few years. "Alright, all clean." She stuck a large bandage to my skin and held my face for a while. "I'm sorry Gerard. They've never gone this far before."

"It's not your fault." I said.

"It kinda is though," she argued. "I should have known better than to bring you into all of this, then to just let you walk alone. I was fucking stupid." 

"I'm not mad at you."

"Not yet." Y/n cleaned everything up and reached into the back seat and tossed me a hoodie. "Here, it's gonna get cold. It's super comfy, its like a four-x or something." She stood up and yelled to the others. "Hey losers, get in. You're all in back, Gerard gets the passenger seat."

We drove nearly half an hour to the woods where she had taken me before. When we arrived, there were a few other cars there; large vans with various graffiti decorating the sides. Kitty and Ronnie went sprinting down to the forest and disappeared into the trees before the rest of us had even exited the car. "Can you walk okay, Gerard?" Y/n asked me as we headed toward the opening. 

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I said. It hurt, fuck, it hurt bad, but I could manage myself for a while. We reached the clearing with the four different paths, but this time we kept going straight, walking through even thicker woods and over lush green grass. As we advanced, the sounds of whooping and yelling teenagers grew, signalling we were close to the destination. Y/n pulled Frank and I into a little side path blocked by sideways trees and fallen logs. 

After about 3 minutes of getting all of us to the other side, we walked another minute before the group of teenagers was right in front of us, yelling and singing very loudly. Many of them were sitting up in trees, or on boulders, some were gathered around a large fire, dancing crazily. The whole place smelled of weed, vodka, and promiscuity. 

A guy with the greasiest bleached mohawk I have ever seen t date stood up and screamed: "Ayyyyy, Y/n's back!" All the kids cheered loudly, and Y/n took my arm and dragged me toward a large rock, greeting people as we went. Someone passed her a blunt which she gladly accepted, as well as a solo cup filled with some type of alcohol, which she dumped half empty, then replaced with someone's can of seven-up. She thanked them and handed me the cup, telling me not to drink too much, the boys spike his shit with stuff that'll make you see stripes for a week. 

She patted my head, then climbed to the top of the rock so she could see everyone. "Hello House of Wolves, how are you feeling tonight?" She yelled, earning more whoops and cheers. Y/n made a gesture that quieted everyone, then began her speech. "Some of you may have met my new friend Gerard at lunch today." She pointed at me. "I brought him out here to show him what fun can be, but I think we're gonna have to go a little easy on him tonight." She paused a moment to clear her throat. "Because Brendon and a couple of his little bitchboy cronies decided to jump him out by the track shed after school." The crowd booed at the mention of Brendon, calling out some unsavoury names for him. 

"He survived, obviously, so I'd like to thank a few people who helped me out today. Pete, get me like four cups of that rotted vodka shit!" A boy with straight black hair came up quickly and set the cups next to her feet. "First and second, to Ronnie and Kitty, for jumping into actin with me, and utilizing plastic piping very well." A loud round of clapping for the two of them, who came to claim their drinks and thank Y/n. "Third, to Frankie, for coming to get me the second he saw Brendon within a few yards of Gerard, and for pulling Brendon of me me when I thought I was damn near a goner." More cheering as Frank blew exaggerated kisses to the crowd, and winking at Y/n when he retrieved his drink. "And finally, to Gerard, for still showing up and being one resilient son of a bitch!" She handed me another cup, but gave me a 'don't drink it' look before jumping off the rock. 

"So, on behalf of the rest of the lovely House of Wolves, I welcome you, Gerard Way, to enjoy yourself in any way you desire! Let's give him a traditional Wolf greeting yeah? One, two, three!" The whole group howled at the top of their lungs, scaring birds out of their perches. It was unreal, being welcomed by so many people at once. So many happy faces, including Y/n, who pulled me into a side hug and took the new cup from me, taking a swig and handing it off to some other teen.

A few hours of hard partying later, and I was sitting with Y/n and her closest members around the fire, talking while the other were either asleep, talking quietly, or getting dangerously close to fucking in a tree. "Y/n, if you don't mind, why does Brendon hate you so much?" I asked her, watching the fire lightdance across her skin.

"Oh, there's a story." She said, chuckling softly. "Brendon and I were friends since the seventh grade." She began. "We always liked eachother, but nobody said anything until the end of eighth grade. We confessed to eachother, but never really did anything until highschool started. Eventually, we started making out, which turned into hooking up every other weekend." She shifted and took a long drag from a cigarette being passed around. "We were never an official 'thing', but we never messed around with other people, and all our friends sort of considered us a 'thing'."

"So, what ended it all?" I asked.

"I made a joke-a stupid joke, but it was only a joke." Y/n stared into the flames and sighed. "It was the end of tenth grade, we were all hanging out, just having fun, and I made a joke calling his dick small. He got like, weirdly upset, cause everyone knew I was kidding, but when we were finally alone, he started this whole fight that is still ongoing. He dragged everyone we knew into this whole feud because I was a 'bitch' and before I knew it, our little group was split down the middle, and what was one cohesive group of friends became two bitter, rivalling gangs. We became the House of Wolves and they became the Salamander Societié. I think he named it that because I told him it was stupid back in eightj grade or something." 

"That fucking sucks." I said angrily. Y/n only laughed and leaned onto my shoulder. I quietly thanked heaven that it was too dark for anyone to see me red faced as a beautiful girl was lying her head on my shoulder. 

"The thing is.." Y/n yawned. "It wasn't even small. Like, it's not a bad dick." 

"Oh, um," I said, a little uncomfortable. "Okay."

Y/n laughed loudly. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Here I am, talking about some other dude's dick. Jesus Christ." We shared laugh and she started again. "Do you wanna get outta here?"

"Yes please."

"Alright." She stood up and turned to Frank. "Hey, do you need a ride?" 

"No." He answered, standing up as well. "Why are you leaving so soon baby?" He wrapped his arms around her waist and started kissing her collarbones. "Stay here with me."

She sighed and petted his head. "I have to go home, and so does Gerard. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Fine." Frank smirked and smacked her ass as she turned around, to which she threw her cigarette at him and laughed. 

"C'mon Gee, let's get outta here."


	5. Growing Down

Gerard pretty much passed out once he hit the trundle bed I pulled out for him. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that he was some no-good delinquent, unconscious from a wild night of stolen whiskey and booted xanax. Neither of us would ever forget that day. 

I took a few extra minutes before crawling into my own bed, removing my socks and   
taking off my makeup. Gerard's shoes were still on, so I took those off for him as well. Is this creepy? I thought, pulling off his sneakers. I'm not like, obsessing over his feet or anything. I'm just gonna say this isn't creepy and leave it like that. I pulled a blanket over the sleeping boy and flopped onto my own bed, making myself comfortable. 

Gerard's greasy hair was sticking out everywhere, and his face was squished in an endearingly hideous way against the pillow. I was shocked at how truly beautiful he was like that. 

I shut my eyes and found that I as well was easily persuaded to sleep, letting the waves of peace rock me to a slumber after only a few moments.

Gerard was already awake when I woke up the next morning. He was messing around on his phone, still under the blankets. "Good morning." I said, rolling over to see him better. I was suddenly conscious of my raspy morning voice and coughed to clear my throat better. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Gerard answered. "I definitely slept hard, if that's a thing people can do." He closed his phone and smiled at me, scrunching his face a little. I laughed a bit and copied his expression.

"God I'm so fucking tired." I said, words muffled by me shoving my face onto the pillow.

"You can go back to sleep if you want," Gerard offered. "I'm perfectly fine here."

"No, that's okay. I'll just get up in a few minutes."

"Alright."

I knew I would have to sneak Gerard out of my house before my parents woke up, so I started hunting for the key to my window. Silently, I cursed myself for not keeping better track of it while I hunted through every drawer. I glanced at the clock and saw 7:30 A.M., meaning I had about fifteen minutes before my dad's alarm went off. 

"Hey Gerard, I have some men's clothes in the third drawer of my dresser if you want to use them." I said over my shoulder. "They're clean."

"Oh yeah, thanks." He pulled the blankets off and hobbled over to my dresser.

"Oh, and you need to be out of my house in less than fifteen minutes."

"What?!"

"My dad is gonna be up in fifteen, so you gotta be outta here." I clarified, slamming a drawer shut. "Where the fuck is my window key?"

"Can't I just go through the front door?" He asked, opening the drawer. 

"No, the neighbors might see and say something about a teenager leaving their house early in the morning." I finally located the key, which was perched just off the edge of my floating shelf. "There are enough bushes that if you go through the window you can go through the mini-street and get outta here."

"Oh."

"Yeah." I started redoing the trundle bed while Gerard dressed himself with the clothes in my dresser. I decided not to tell him that most of those clothes were from ex lovers, some of which were probably Brendon's at one point. 

After a heavy push, I slid the window up and stepped aside to let Gerard through. He had one leg out when I grabbed his arm, making him flick his head up to look at me, alert eyes and mouth slightly agape. "Thanks for hanging with me, Gerard." 

He blinked once, then smiled at me. "No problem!" He swung his other leg out and was officially out of my house. 

"Bye." I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"Bye." He smiled again, and we stayed like that for a few seconds. Finally, he turned and ran into the mini-street and out of sight. 

I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my hair while the youthful morning air cleansed my lungs. Each breath ran through my throat and back out again, cold and pure with a twinge of confusion and delicate apprehension. There shouldn't have been a fluttering like there was, tickling my nose and brain and chest like a teasing lover.

"Y/n!" My dad called from upstairs. Damnit, my dad. "Are you up? You better not be sneaking anyone through that window young lady!"

"No dad!" I yelled back. "I'm letting the fresh air in!" I made up my mind that half-lies weren't that bad a few years ago. 

"Well, don't leave it open!" His baritone was reverberate in the old plaster walls. "I'm not paying to air-condition the whole neighborhood, you know!" 

"I know, I know!" I shut the window and locked it up again. "It's closed!"

"Thank you!" 

"Welcome!"

"Stop yelling in the house!" My mother broke in, likely trying to get more sleep.

"Sorry!" My dad and I called in unison.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Alright honey, we're leaving." My mom and dad traveled down to my room in the basement to bid me farewell before their overnight trip to my aunt's house. 

"No drugs." My dad said, fixing his collar. "Or alcohol."

"Or boys!" My mom added. "Alright, love you sweetie!" My mon gave me a kiss and she and my dad walked up the stairs. I watched by my window and waited for the car to leave the driveway, and as soon as it left the street I whipped my phone out and texted Frank. 

Me: hey  
You can come over in like 30 min

Frankie: cant wait to see you ;)

Me: me neither♡♡♡

Not a moment to spare, I stripped down bare and jumped in the shower. I knew Frank would be late by at least 15 minutes, so I could be sure that there would be enough time for me to get ready after my extensive shower routine. I shaved, exfoliated, scrubbed, and moisturized my whole body.

In a towel I stood in front of my closet, searching for something to wear. Maybe I would let Frank get it tonight, who knows? All I knew was that I wanted the possibility to be open, and I needed the outfit to communicate.

Lace? No, too froofy. Fishnets? I'm not a hooker, and this isn't a rave. Ripped tights? Yeah okay, that works. Tights to make him think of sex (thanks Clueless), a mini skirt because duh, and a plain, black long sleeve. Oh, this was going to be good. Hastily, I pulled everything on and checked my reflection to make sure I looked just right. Another job well done by the world's finest, moi. 

Knock knock! There was banging on the window. I scurried out of my room and to the window Frank was standing outside of, leather bag in hand, checking around for passersby that might see him. He grinned when he saw me, and I unlocked the window and pushed it up. He crawled right through, and once finished with dusting himself off, made and eyes-wide expression at my outfit and I. 

"Holy shit, you're so hot!" His voice cracked as he exclaimed. "I feel bad, I'm not as hot as you now." He pouted slightly, and it was so cute that he was completely serious.

"Oh come on," I pulled him by his hands closer to me. "Don't you know how much I love you in that jacket?" 

It was all too painfully true; his leather jacket with the spikes and patches and rips and studs were what brought me to him in the first place. Our first kiss happened when he came to get the jacket from me because I was fixing it for him. He was a precious little new recruit into the House of Wolves, having transferred during sophomore year. I took a liking to him and made sure he was by my side so I could teach him how to conduct himself. 

"I know how much you like me out of this jacket, too." Frank answered, getting dangerously close to my face. "Want me to take it off?"

I chuckled quietly and kissed Frank slowly; slow enough to feel every emotion and bit of need that the both of us had jumping in our nerves. I relaxed in his embrace, releasing so much tension I had built up from taking care of Gerard the night before. Then the tension came back for a minute; Gerard. Did he get home okay? What was he doing right now? Was he thinking about me? Wait, why do I care? I have Frank, focus on Frank. 

His skin was a little dry and rough, but it felt nice against my own smoother skin. We kissed and kissed until I pushed away and ran to my room, giggling as he chased me. He knocked me onto the bed and held me for a few minutes, soaking up the togetherness before he pulled his bag out. 

"I brought stuff for us to have a good time, if you know what I mean." Frank wiggled his eyebrows all suggestively, so I pushed him and rolled my eyes. I tipped the bag over and saw a half full vodka bottle, a bag of weed with a pipe, sour patch kids, and a copy of Zoolander 2. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The weed had been smoked, the vodka drank, the candy eaten, and most importantly, Zoolander 2 had been watched. Somehow during all of this, Frank and I had completely fucked each other on my bed. Weird how that happens. Whoops.

"Are you going to stay the night?" I asked, tracing little figure-eights on Franks chest. 

"I don't think so," he sighed, squeezing me tighter. "I really wanna sleep in my own bed tonight, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it." God, I wanted him to stay so badly. I wanted a distraction so bad. The guilt was eating up like bacteria. Just slowly, starting from my toe tips, but it was bothersome nonetheless. I didn't want to just use Frank like he was a little fuck-toy, but I didn't know if what we were doing was okay. I liked Frank, I really did, but it was in a way I couldn't explain. I loved him as my friend, and liked him as a lover, but even the sexuality didn't go much father than blunt physical attraction. 

Frank slipped out my window late, when the moon was shining, full and watchful the way I would be if I were a giant rock orbiting the earth. 

What was this hole I was trying to fill? I had so many friends, and went out all the time. My parents loved me, so what in the hell did I need? I needed someone to complain to, but they had to be someone who could understand. Everyone I knew could understand having a crisis, but who felt what I felt? Alone in the arms of a lover. Alone in a crowded room. Alone with every single resource around me to banish my alone-ness. 

Suddenly, I missed childhood. I craved the simplicity of being so young. There were no worries about who was dating who, or who got shitfaced at the party last weekend and passed out in a tree. It was just riding scooters and playing with barbies and stealing my brother's Anakin Skywalker action figure because I didn't have a Ken doll yet. It was the discovery of the forest with Jimmy and Brendon. It was the first real crush, swimming in innocence and petulant infatuation. 

"Jesus Christ." I thought, sitting slowly onto my bed. Can't I just grow down?


	6. My Descent Into Emotion

Y/N'S POV

My favorite places include my bed, my car, the woods, the river, and gas stations during the nighttime. If you can read, you would be able to see that nowhere on that list does the top of a giant fucking building make an appearance. Now that that has been cleared out of the way, at exactly 1:36 A.M., on Sunday, March 22nd, my toes were at the edge of the roof of an abandoned office building, vision whirling.

"James Euringer I swear to fucking God, if I make it down from here I'm gonna kill your ass!" I screamed, eyes fixated on the hard concrete hundreds of feet down. Somehow, Jimmy convinced me to scale the building, despite my insane fear of heights, and somehow, he convinced Gerard to go with me. Sure, I'd scaled buildings before, but usually smaller ones, like churches and schools, or large houses. Beside that, I hadn't done it in a while, and overshot my ability to handle my fear. Gerard didn't seem too bothered by the height though, so I felt less bad about him climbing with me. He just sort of walked along the edge, inspecting everything and enjoying the view. 

"What god?" Jimmy called from the bottom. 

"Wow, very edgy of you." I replied, sarcasm burning through my words. 

"C'mon, don't be a pussy!" He laughed. "Just come down! There's a pipe right there, and its sturdy enough you can grab onto the windows and swing down to the emergency ladder."

"Easy for you to say," I whispered to myself, clenching my fists and swallowing thickly. "You're all the way on the fucking ground."

"Here, I'll go first, and then I'll guide you down from there." Gerard startled me, as he was suddenly standing directly behind me on the ledge. 

Jumping a little, I grabbed his arm and gasped. "Christ on a cracker! Don't just jump behind me like that, man!" I took a breath. "But, yeah, that would be cool with me."

"Okay. Step aside, Madame." Gerard gently pushed me back and got down on his knees to help himself down.

"Wait, you're not scared?" I asked, nothing short of flabbergasted with his willingness to make the descent. 

"Nah."

"Damn, okay." I shivered. "Proceed then, I guess."

Amazement cannot describe what I experienced, watching Gerard's ease of movement grasping onto the drainage pipe, then stepping onto a ledge. Upon reaching the platform for the emergency ladder, he looked up and licked his lips in contemplation. "It's not so hard, just get on your knees and reach a leg down so you can get your foot around that pipe."

"Okay..." Slowly, I lowered myself, trying my damndest not to focus on the unforgiving ground below me. One leg carefully outstretched, swaying around, searching for purchase. After what my body percieved to be thirty-eight years, but was in reality probably about three seconds, my foot was safely perched on the pipe, allowing me to quickly yank my other foot over. "Okay...what now?" I quivered, squeezing my eyes shut and resting my face on the cool metal.

"Okay, look down. Do you see the windowsill next to you?" 

"Yes."

"Okay, now put one hand on the gutter, and step onto the windowsill."

"Are you sure?" I yelled. "What if I'm too heavy?"

"If I could do it, you can too." Gerard yelled back. "Trust me, it's very stable!"

I grimaced and took a shaky step onto the windowsill. 

"Good, now the other foot!" Gerard called up.

I shuffled onto the windowsill completely, then took some initiative and swung over to the same platform Gerard was on. I slumped against the brick wall, panting and feeling my heart beat like one of those kids on urban streets who play buckets for money. 

"Umm...Y/n?" Gerard spoke gently, reaching for my arm. "Are you okay?"

Struggling for words...I just nodded exasperatedly, gasping out "Can we just get to the ground please?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just follow me." Gerard nodded and started climbing down the rungs of the ladder. "Its not that far down, trust me."

He was right, it wasn't far down. I just kept my eyes on the red brick on front of me and climbed down, step by tedious step. Finally, I dropped to the ground, and fell into the arms of the nearest person to me, taking shallow breaths and attempting to find some kind of refuge in the shoulders of the stranger who held me. This felt smelled different than other people who had held me, not because they were unknown, but because they felt so familiar. 

At once I knew I was in Gerard's arms. It made perfect sense; he'd been on my mind for days. Even when I was with Frank, it was always Gerard who was woven through my thoughts. Why the hell did this feel so good? That was the part that didn't make sense. We were so different, him and I. He was so tactless, but he had a charm that always seemed to come back and wrap around me. He was honest and plain, not coy and over-indulgent like the way Frank and the rest of the Wolves were. All that clandestine activity had its place, but not in my affairs of the heart. 

"You're okay, Y/n. You're okay." Gerard cooed to me, rubbing my back.

"Thanks Gerard..." I slowly let go and rubbed my eyes, adjusting to the ground perspective and gathering my scattered wit back from the grass. Re-opening my eyes, my focus centered on Jimmy, who was laughing through his hands by a tree. I growled and clenched my fist. "EURINGER!" I screamed, sprinting toward him as fast as my legs could handle. His amusement hastily melted away, replaced with horror, and he turned and ran blindly away from me. 

"AAAHHHHHH! STOP! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!"

"YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY WHEN I CATCH YOU!"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
Approaching the lunch table on Monday, all of my friends were engaged with some sort of activity, whether it be heated discussion, throwing food at teachers when their backs were turned, or even pushing a kid with crutches into the trash can. My my, what a proud leader I was. As I neared, one voice was standing out amongst the rest.

"Look, all I'm saying is that if Blue Jays and Cardinals wanna look so damn similar, then we should either call Cardinals 'Red Jays', or call Blue Jays 'Smurf Cardinals'." They spoke with such conviction and sincerity, I was almost persuaded, even though I knew their words were utter bullshit. "I don't give a damn that they're different species, I want them to stop being named different things."

Through the madness, another voice responded, lethargic and thoughtful. "Dude, fuckin', like...'Red Jay' kinda sounds like you're sayin' 'Reggie'... and like, that's kinda tight, bro." What could I say? At least they were thinking.

"Y/n!" Gerard's face popped out at me, cheerfully grinning like he was learning something exciting. "Come sit with me!"

"You got it King." I shot him some finger guns, overlooking the activity of my Wolves. From the looks of it, Frank and Pete were the perpetrators of the bizarre cardinal conversation. Not shocked, I sat between Frank and Gerard, rustling both of their heads of hair. 

"Hey Y/n," Frank leaned against me, sliding one hand onto my thigh. "Wanna go and have some fun in my car next period?"

He reeked of smoke and marijuana. "Frank, are you high?"

He marked each of his following words by gently poking my nose. "As. A. Kite." 

I sighed and half-hugged him, patting his arm a few times. "I think you'd better come back down to Earth before you have any more 'fun', don't you?"

"Ughhh," Frank groaned, slumping onto the lunch table. "You never let me do anything."

"Ah!" I turned to him, mouth agape. "Don't you ever say that to me again, Frank Anthony Iero! Now go talk to Pete!"

"Ugh, can you believe him?" I complained, turning to Gerard.

"Nope." Gerard replied, eyebrows raised. "So he's like your boyfriend, right?" 

"I told you before, he's not my boyfriend." I said. "He might not be anything, if he keeps this up...horny bastard." 

"So...what are you guys then?" Gerard inquired, taking a bite of his sandwich. 

"Who knows?" I sighed. "Fuck buddies, I guess? I don't know, I'm honestly thinking I want something more steady and committed, you know?"

"So you're gonna commit to him?" Gerard snapped his head to me, wide-eyed. 

"To Frank?" I squawked. "Jesus Christ, are you insane?" After taking a hard, calming look at the ceiling, I spoke again. "Me committing to Frank is like painting a firecracker white and calling it a tampon. It might look like the real thing, but it's bad news for my fucking vagina."

"What?!" Gerard coughed out, choking on his sandwich.

"Well," I began, slapping his back. "All he ever wants to do is fuck and smoke weed, fuck and smoke weed. For one, that's painful for my lady-hole; I don't have the stamina for that, every single night, probably multiple times per day. Two, weed causes infertility or something, and while that's useful now, what if I want to have kids down the line? All I'm gonna have to do it with is his dried-up dick." I lowered my voice a little. "And I don't think I need to explain why putting a firecracker up there is a bad plan."

"Nope, you don't." 

"Cool."

After school, I waited for Frank at the parking lot, in front of my car. From a distance, I saw Ray comforting Jamia, who had her head in her hands. I felt bad for her; she was Frank's oldest friend, and almost definitely in love with him. Lucky for her, I was throwing him back onto the market again, and hopefully in her direction. 

"Oh, hey Y/n." Frank walked up to me, backpack slung over his shoulder, still with a little bit of inebriated cluelessness swirling on his face. 

"Hey Frankie," I said, biting my nails. "I need to talk to you."

"Oh, okay..." He looked at me suspiciously, and for the first time in years, I was almost nervous to say something. "What about?"

"Okay, so you know that I love you, and you're like, one of my bestest, most loyal friends, and I'd trust you with my life, and everything?"

"Yeah, of course." He nodded. "We're like, the dynamic duo."

"Okay, so, as much as I love us like, having sex and making out," I took a deep breath and spat the rest out as fast as I could. "I just really want something more and I don't think we would go well together so I think we need to stop being fuck buddies."

Frank looked taken aback for a moment, like he was trying to process his newfound sexless life. "...oh. Well, I'm not going to hold you back from your dreams." Shoving his hands in his pockets, Frank took a breath and scraped at loose gravel with his boot. "Well shit. What do I do now?" 

"I think Jamia's free." I suggested, winking and nudging him with my elbow. 

He scrunched his face up for a second, then nodded enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear. "Okay, I'll see you later Y/n!" He started sprinting in the direction of his new love interest, screaming. "HEY JAMIA! YOU WANNA GO OUT TONIGHT?"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"I'm bored, whatcha wanna do?" I was laying on the floor of Gerard's basement, doing his math homework for him. 

"You know, we should probably work on that collage thingy." He yawned, examining the worksheet I was filling out. "You should make a few of these incorrect, so the teacher doesn't get suspicious."

"Yeah, I'll do it later." I rolled over and dumped out the contents of my backpack, digging through to find the collage assignment. "Have you collected anything yet? I've got some stuff."

"Yeah I have some stuff by my bed." He said, rubbing his eyes. 

"Okay, help me up." I flipped over and held my arms out.

"Gotcha." He grabbed my hands and pulled, catapulting me up and to my feet. Upon standing, I was stood exceedingly close to him; our faces were almost touching. My heart sped up and I pushed away instinctively, muttering an apology and moving to his bedroom. "Are-are you okay?" Gerard asked concerned, following me. 

"Y-yeah, I'm just tired or something." I excused, waving my hands haphazardly as a confusing accessory. "I dunno, just acting a little...weird today." Why was I acting like this? He was just another guy, afterall. I supposed he wasn't just another guy. Was this what an actual crush felt like? Somehow I had never had one yet. C'mon, just be cool. He's not Ryan Reynolds or something. He's just...Gerard.

"Oh it's actually in the drawer next to you." Gerard said, pointing to the bedside table. 

"Oh worm?" I said, opening the top drawer. There were a couple of receipts, a small scrap of cloth, and a small, flat rock. Scooping the motley out of the drawer, I dropped them all onto the mattress and sat down beside the small mound. Then, I pulled out all my stuff from my pockets that I had been saving all week. A sock, my sunglasses, the logo cutout of a coffee cup, and a shitty printout of a selfie of the two of us. Together, we rifled through the mess; I picked up the cloth to inspect it. "Is that your-"

"Blood?" He cut in. "Yeah, I thought it gave it some character. I cut it off the shirt Brendon beat me up in." 

"That's kinda metal, Gee." I laughed, throwing the rag at his face. "Speaking of Bren, here's the coffee cup I threw at him, and the sunglasses I was wearing. Oh, and a sock I never gave back. Don't worry-its clean."

"The receipts are from you buying me coffee, oh- and me buying you that Lunchable from WalMart." He smiled and smoothed out the papers, stacking them neatly. "And that's a rock from the creek I fell in." 

"Oh shit, that was so funny!" It was just a little sedimentary rock, with the incident's date written in paint on it. "That's the picture I took at the party."

"Yeah, it's such a great picture." Gerard sarcastically commented. The picture was extremely grainy; it was the two of us, looking very concerned at something that was happening in the distance. "So what do we do with all of these?" He pondered. 

"Maybe...like a timeline?" I suggested. "Like a timeline of our friendship. We can start with the assignment paper, and then work out the dates in order from there."

"Oh cool! And we can write little notes next to each thing, explaining it." Gerard added. "Fallon pretty much has to give us an A."

"Yeah, for real." I nodded. "We're like, a great team."

"We really are. I've got a poster board around here somewhere."

We spent the next ten minutes putting everything in order, then another ten minutes writing down all the extra notes. "Okay, so there's still room for stuff in case we have any more adventures before Friday." I said, yawning. 

"Yeah, that's good." He copied my yawn, moving the posterboard away amd laying down next to me. "You know, I'm glad we became friends."

"Yeah, me too." I sighed. "You're actually pretty cool, for a nobody loser-brain."

"And you're actually kinda nice, for being a royal pain in the ass." He sneered.

"Hey!" I gasped, sitting up. "I am not that awful. I'm fun, you dickhead." I collapsed on him, laying my head on his shoulder, and my arm on his chest. 

"Yeah, I guess you are pretty fun, huh?" Gerard smiled up at the ceiling. I felt his arm shift to hold my waist, and I stayed silent, solving to just play with a small strand of his hair. It was so perfect like that; us, quiet, but closer than before. I couldn't tell how badly I wanted to kiss him then, to hold him and tell him sweet things until we both fell asleep. 

Slowly, I crept my hand down to his, brushing my fingertips along his forearm and wrist. Once our hands met, our fingers touched for a moment before fitting together, joining us. We were both breathing audibly, like two middle schoolers who had just kissed for the first time. In a state of pathetic bliss, I tucked my face into his neck, and he held me close and tight. 

"I'M HOME!" Someone screamed from upstairs.

I jolted, shocked and a little frightened. "Don't worry," Gerard said. "It's just my brother."

"He's not gonna come and bother us, is he?" I asked.

"No probably no-"

"EWWW IS THAT A GIRL???" The voice was in the doorway this time. "GOD AT LEAST TELL ME IF YOU'RE GONNA BE HAVING SEX DOWN HERE!"

Gerard pushed me off and chased his brother out of the room, yelling back at him. "WE'RE NOT HAVING SEX! AND YOU BETTER NOT TELL MOM!" 

I ran after him, finding Gerard tackling an extremely scrawny fifteen-year-old boy. The two of them were screaming at eachother. "Gerard! Get off me! Please!"

"Tell me you're not gonna tell mom!"

"Gerard-"

"Say it!"

"I won't tell!"

"Gerard, if you break that boy's neck, you're gonna hear from me!" I crossed my arms and put on my 'mom voice'. He put his hands up and climbed off, straightening his clothes and walking over to me. The boy stood up, grinning. 

"I'm Mikey." He said, pulling himself up. "Thanks for saving me."

"No problem." I replied, giving him a fist bump. 

"Wait..." He said, looking me up and down. "You're Y/n! From The House of Wolves! And you were having sex with my brother!" He started running past us towards the stairs. "I've gotta go tell the boys!"

I caught him by the hood of his sweatshirt and pulled him back. "Um...no. Nobody was having sex, and nobody's telling the 'boys'. In fact, nobody is telling anybody anything." I spun him around. "Am I clear?"

"Yeah, whatever you say." Mikey answered, shaking, eyes wide. "You better get outta here before my mom comes back." I nodded and released the kid, letting him scramble up the stairs. 

"I'll walk you home." Gerard offered, already cleaning up my poured-out school materials.

"Always the gentleman." I sighed, kneeling down to help. 

"Well, someone's gotta do it."

Gerard and I stood on my doorstep, talking for a few minutes more before he went back to his own house. "So, are you and Frank like, done?"

"Yeah. We're still besties, but you know, we just weren't couple material." 

"Mm, I guess it's good that you figured it out sooner than later." Gerard shrugged.

"Yeah, plus, I think there was someone else he would've done better with." 

"Okay...well, I guess I'd better be going then." Gerard kicked the ground lightly, stalling the inevitable.

"Before you go, there's something I have to do." I smiled.

"What?"

"This-" I jumped on him, hugging him tighter than I'd hugged someone before. "Oh, and this." Counteracting the agression of the hug, I took his face and tenderly kissed his cheek, relishing just a few more moments before he had to go. 

He held his cheek where I kissed it, looking at me with slightly parted lips, shocked and blissful. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome, Gerard." I hugged him once more, then opened the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, bye." He smiled, still floating in the clouds.

"Buh-bye." I winked and closed the door behind me, then ran downstairs. I threw open the door and flounced onto my bed, giggling like a little kid and squealing into my pillow.


End file.
